Lightning discovered on Mars via microphone

Amazing stuff!  So far lightning was discovered only three bodies of the solar system!

"Lightning has been detected on Mars for the first time, confirming longstanding theories that the dusty and windy Martian atmosphere could see electrical charges transferred.

Finding lightning could reveal new insights into the habitability of Mars and potential risks to future missions.

The discovery was made through analysis of data from NASA’s Perseverance rover which landed on Mars in 2021 ...

The researchers compared 28 hours of audio data with electrical signals.

They found 55 electrical events which had acoustic signatures characteristic of lightning. Almost all of these coincided with high winds with only 1 occurring during winds outside the strongest 30% recorded during the study period.

Lightning has previously been spotted on 3 bodies in the solar system: Earth, Jupiter and Saturn. ..."

From the abstract:

"Lightning is among the most energetic manifestation of electrical activity in planetary atmospheres, with documented observations not only on Earth but also on Saturn and Jupiter.

On Mars, the existence of electrical activity has long been suspected, but never directly demonstrated. The dusty atmosphere of Mars undergoes aeolian processes, ranging from wind-blown dust and sand, metre-to-hundred-metre-sized dust devils to thousand-kilometre-scale dust storms, which, in Earth’s deserts, can become electrified through triboelectric charging. For this reason, electric fields have been predicted to build up on Mars, but with no measurement of Martian atmospheric electrical activity so far.

Here we report in situ detections of triboelectric discharges, identified by their electrical and acoustic signatures captured by the SuperCam microphone aboard the Perseverance rover.

Fifty-five events have been detected over two Martian years, usually associated with dust devils and dust storm convective fronts. These serendipitous observations demonstrate that Martian electric fields can reach the breakdown threshold of the near-surface atmosphere of Mars, predicted to be on the order of several tens of kV m−1.

Such electrical activity could affect dust dynamics and potentially fuel a reactive electrochemical environment enhancing the oxidizing capacity of the atmosphere, with consequences for the preservation of organic molecules. This in situ evidence may have implications for surface chemistry, habitability and human exploration."

Lightning on Mars spells trouble for future missions and search for life | News | ConnectSci

Electric discharges detected on Mars for the first time (original news release) "Electric discharges have for the first time been recorded within the storms and whirlwinds of dust – known as dust devils – that sweep across the surface of Mars. Captured by the microphone of the SuperCam instrument on board NASA’s Perseverance rover, the signals were analysed by a team of scientists from the CNRS, Université de Toulouse and the Observatoire de Paris – PSL, working as part of an international team. The discharges represent a major discovery with immediate implications for our understanding of the atmospheric chemistry, climate and habitability of Mars, as well as for future robotic and manned missions there. These findings are published in the journal Nature on November 26, 2025."

Detection of triboelectric discharges during dust events on Mars (no public access)

Detection of electric discharges in dust devils by the SuperCam instrument, on board the Perseverance rover on Mars

Thunderbolts actually benefit some tropical trees

Amazing stuff! During evolution, lightning can make a tree more resilient to lightning, make their wood more electrically conductive and increase lifetime fecundity of the tree!

"Growing up to 55 meters tall in the tropical forests of Panama, the almendro tree is a natural lightning rod. And that appears to be a good thing: The huge charge that courses through this species during a strike electrocutes parasitic vines and leaps from branches, killing nearby trees that might compete for the almendro’s sunlight.

From 2014 to 2019, a team of scientists pinpointed 94 lightning strikes on Panama’s Barro Colorado Island. Each time, they visited the tree that was hit and checked it and surrounding trees for damage. Almendro trees, they discovered, are particularly resilient to lightning. All nine that had been struck were practically unscathed. In comparison, similarly tall trees of other species took nearly six times as much damage, and 64% of those trees died within 2 years. ...

Almendro trees have wood that is more electrically conductive than others, possibly because of how efficiently water flows through its wood. As a result, for a given amount of electrical current, almendros would likely heat up less than other species and therefore suffer less internal damage."

From the abstract:

• "Lightning strikes kill hundreds of millions of trees annually, but their role in shaping tree life history and diversity is largely unknown.
• Here, we use data from a unique lightning location system to show that some individual trees counterintuitively benefit from being struck by lightning.
• Lightning killed 56% of 93 directly struck trees and caused an average of 41% crown dieback among the survivors. However, among these struck trees, 10 direct strikes caused negligible damage to Dipteryx oleifera trees while killing 78% of their lianas and 2.1 Mg of competitor tree biomass. Nine trees of other long-lived taxa survived lightning with similar benefits. On average, a D. oleifera tree > 60 cm in diameter is struck by lightning at least five times during its lifetime, conferring these benefits repeatedly. We estimate that the ability to survive lightning increases lifetime fecundity 14-fold, largely because of reduced competition from lianas and neighboring trees. Moreover, the unusual heights and wide crowns of D. oleifera increase the probability of a direct strike by 49–68% relative to trees of the same diameter with average allometries.
• These patterns suggest that lightning plays an underappreciated role in tree competition, life history strategies, and species coexistence."

ScienceAdviser

How some tropical trees benefit from being struck by lightning: evidence for Dipteryx oleifera and other large-statured trees (open access)

The birth of a lightning bolt was caught on video

We do not even understand how lightning comes about! We do not understand solar activity, what goes on in the oceans, or cloud formation etc.!

However, on a daily basis we are inundated with the propaganda and demagoguery of Global Warming and the Climate Change religion!

"A new slow-motion video offers the best view yet of the split-second collision of electric currents that creates a flash of lightning. ..."

The birth of a lightning bolt was caught on video | Science News High-res imagery captures link between electrical tendrils from the sky and ground